Tyranny of Brokenstar
|date= |place=The forest territories |outcome=Brokenstar is driven out of ShadowClan |participants=Brokenstar |keyparties=ShadowClan }} The tyranny of Brokenstar was an event that took place during Yellowfang's Secret to Forest of Secrets. Brokenstar rose to power, starting an oppressive and tyrannical rule that lasted for moons, and many cats died. Summary Premise :Brokenstar was born in secret to Raggedstar and Yellowfang, the ShadowClan medicine cat. He was spoiled by his father, and was even named a warrior earlier than most cats. Raggedstar chose his son to become deputy after Cloudpelt, the former deputy, was killed in battle. Brokentail craved more power than deputyship and he murdered his father in cold blood, ripping all nine lives away from him at once. He lied that his father was killed by a passing patrol. Yellowfang knew what he had done, but she was unable to stop him from receiving his nine lives and leader name. Entering his new leadership, Brokenstar desired to be respected and feared by every cat, including his own Clanmates. Overview :After becoming leader, Brokenstar began apprenticing kits much too early, resulting in many dying when they should have still been in the nursery. Furthermore, he exiled his Medicine cat, Yellowfang, for supposedly killing her younger siblings, though in reality this was not the case. :Brokenstar orders Clawface to steal kits from ThunderClan, and Clawface steals the four young kits of Frostfur and Lionheart. He is caught by Spottedleaf, ThunderClan's medicine cat, but he kills her in turn. With Spottedleaf's death and their kits stolen, ThunderClan mounts an attack on ShadowClan's camp with the help of ShadowClan's elders and some cats who believe Brokenstar was unfit to rule. Brokenstar is driven out, but attacks ThunderClan a few moons later. He is them blinded by Yellowfang, ThunderClan's new Medicine cat, and becomes one of their elders, much to the digress of much of ThunderClan. Brokenstar, now Brokentail, conspires with ThunderClan's own deputy, Tigerclaw, to try and take over the Clan, but this fails. Realizing that Brokenstar was too dangerous to be kept alive, Yellowfang poisons him with deathberries, but not before revealing to him that she was his mother. When he dies, Brokentail goes to the Place of No Stars, and plots to end the Clans once and for all with the other cats there. Description Death of Raggedstar :Brokentail, ShadowClan's deputy, informs the Clan that his father was killed by a WindClan patrol, his nine lives ripped away all at once. However, Yellowfang knows that Brokentail had in fact, killed his father for ShadowClan's leadership. Yellowfang knows she cannot do anything, since Brokentail has the support of ShadowClan, and has to accompany him as he receives his nine lives and leader name. Changing the code :Now under the name of Brokenstar, ShadowClan's new leader makes Blackfoot his deputy, despite that Blackfoot had never received an apprentice. He also makes Mosspaw his own apprentice, despite Mosspaw being three moons old; half the age of which a cat would normally become an apprentice. Many cats call Brokenstar out on the breaking of the code, but he explains that he wants ShadowClan to be stronger, and thus they should be training their cats in an earlier age. Featherstorm, Mosspaw's mother, heavily disagrees. Brokenstar also promises Dawnkit and Volekit apprenticeships later on, despite being Mosspaw's littermates. :Brokenstar starts focusing solely on fighting tactics rather then hunting, appealing to the younger generation of ShadowClan. The senior warriors and older ShadowClan warriors dislike the change, since they would have little to no food. Brokenstar eventually gives orders to make kits fight each other. Mosspaw is killed by Wetkit and Brownkit during a brutal training session. Brokenstar, unfazed that his apprentice was killed, makes Dawnkit, Volekit, Brownkit, Wetkit and Littlekit apprentices, despite all five being well under six moons old. He gives himself Volepaw as an apprentice, and the rest mentors who are rather close to him, rather then more experienced warriors. :Volepaw is later killed by an infected wound, and Brokenstar makes a new rule that the elders need to fend for themselves now; by leaving the camp. This is met with outrage from the elders and many warriors, while most of ShadowClan's younger members seem to agree with Brokenstar's choice. Ultimately, the elders leave ShadowClan and try to live on their own. Casting out Yellowfang :Marigoldkit and Mintkit, two young kits, go out into the forest and are killed by a fox. Yellowfang finds them alongside Brokenstar. However, Brokenstar pins their deaths on Yellowfang, likely because Yellowfang's status as Medicine cat could be a threat to his reign. He manages to convince almost the entirety of ShadowClan, even Yellowfang's mother Brightflower, who was Marigoldkit's and Mintkit's mother. Only Runningnose, Yellowfang's apprentice, Nutwhisker and Rowanberry, Yellowfang's brother and sister, and Newtspeck challenge Brokenstar's claim. Brightflower is in shock that Yellowfang would kill her younger siblings, while Brackenfoot, Yellowfang's father, stares at her in disbelief and shock. Brokenstar exiles her from ShadowClan despite Yellowfang's declare of innocence. Soon after she is exiled, Runningnose promises to prove she is innocent, though Yellowfang doesn't believe it can be done. She goes into ThunderClan territory, and meets a young aprentice shortly thereafter. :With Yellowfang gone, Runningnose is left to treat the wounds of many young apprentices caused by brutal fighting tactics, and easing the deaths of many young kits, breaking his heart. One apprentice in particular, Badgerpaw, is killed by a WindClan warrior, and his mentor and uncle, Flintfang is devastated. Before he dies, Flintfang allows him to choose his warrior name, and Badgerpaw decides on Badgerfang, after his mentor. Flintfang vows to never take on an apprentice that is under six moons, and openly starts questioning Brokenstar's true intentions. Ultimately, Flintfang gathers enough of a following that many ShadowClan cats decide Brokenstar is unfit to rule. Stealing the kits :Brokenstar orders Clawface to abduct kits from ThunderClan, which results in the four young kits of Frostfur and Lionheart being stolen, and ThunderClan's medicine cat Spottedleaf dying. Upon realizing this, ThunderClan joins up with ShadowClan's exiled elders to take back the kits and to drive out Brokenstar. The plan is successful, and many ShadowClan warriors join in on forcing Brokenstar out. After a battle, Brokenstar is forced out of ShadowClan with his most loyal followers. Now humiliated and his intentions known, Brokenstar begins plotting his revenge. Nightpelt, a ShadowClan elder and Brokenstar's former mentor, takes up the leadership mantle of ShadowClan, becoming Nightstar and appointing his nephew Cinderfur as deputy. :However, because Brokenstar was still recognized by StarClan as ShadowClan's leader, Nightstar is refused his nine lives. Nightstar and Runningnose decide that no cat needs to know that Nightstar was refused nine lives, and instead lie that he had actually received them. Attack on ThunderClan :Brokenstar conspires once again, this time against ThunderClan due to their pivotal role in driving him out. However, with assistance from ShadowClan, Brokenstar and his band of rogues are defeated. Clawface is killed by Graystripe to avenge Spottedleaf, while Brokenstar is blinded by Yellowfang. Any other surviving rogues run away, leaderless. :Instead of killing Brokenstar for his crimes, Bluestar decides to make him an elder and revokes his leadership name; becoming Brokentail once again and is harbored by ThunderClan, as Yellowfang believed killing him would make them as low as he was. This is met with outrage from many ThunderClan cats, but do settle down after Brokentail is revealed to be blind and no longer a threat. Conspiring with Tigerclaw :Even though Bluestar showed Brokentail mercy, he is relentlessly harassed by kits and apprentices, while the warriors do nothing to stop it. Nightstar and Tallstar are outraged that Brokenstar is still alive, and threaten to kill him themselves if ThunderClan does not. Crookedstar remains indifferent about Brokentail, but somewhat agrees that he is too dangerous to keep alive, even if he is blind. Bluestar refuses to kill Brokentail, which results in both ShadowClan and WindClan marching on ThunderClan's camp. They are beaten back by ThunderClan. :Fireheart notices ThunderClan's deputy Tigerclaw sharing tongues with Brokentail, which arouses suspicion. Eventually, Tigerclaw is revealed to be a traitor to ThunderClan, and was conspiring with Brokentail and his rogues to usurp the leadership from Bluestar and become ThunderClan's leader. After sending out most of ThunderClan's warriors on patrol, he tries to kill Bluestar, but he is defeated by Fireheart. During the battle, cats such as Blackfoot and Stumpytail are revealed to be helping Tigerclaw and Brokentail. Brokentail, while blind, tries to fight, but is easily apprehended by Yellowfang who realizes that as long as her son is alive, he remains a threat to all cats. She poisons him with deathberries under the guise that they will heal him, knowing he is on his last life. Brokentail eats the berries, and is then informed that Yellowfang is his mother. Brokentail refuses to believe his mother was Yellowfang, and succumbs to the poison, ending his life. Aftermath :Even in death, Brokenstar's reign had many affects on the living world. He was sent to the Place of No Stars upon his death, due to his evil nature, where he gave himself back his leader name and conspired with cats such as Hawkfrost and Mapleshade to train young cats in their dreams to fight for them. Most notably Tigerheart and Blossomfall, appealing to them with the promise of power. :Brokenstar's followers eventually banded together with Tigerclaw when he was exiled from ThunderClan. When Brokenstar's death reached ShadowClan, Nightstar was weak from the carrionplace sickness, and could not make the journey to Highstones to receive his lives, leaving ShadowClan for Tigerclaw to take control of. Main characters Brokenstar :Being born in secret to Yellowfang and Raggedstar, Yellowfang believes Brokenstar's evil nature was a result of her breaking the Warrior code. Brokenstar was emotionally abused by his foster mother, Lizardstripe, and bullied by his foster siblings. His heritage also sparked rumors that a Kittypet or even Foxheart was his biological mother. Regardless, due to his arrogant and aggressive tendencies, Cedarstar gives him Nightpelt as a mentor, hoping that Nightpelt's more positive personality would edge out Brokenpaw's. However, this backfires as Brokenpaw sees Nightpelt as "weak" and instead seeks training from Raggedpelt, who spoiled him. :When he becomes a warrior, Brokentail remains his aggressive attitude, and when Cloudpelt is dying, he urges Yellowfang to let him die. When Cloudpelt dies, he is appointed deputy by Raggedstar, and not long after, Raggedstar's lives are mysteriously ripped away from him, leaving Brokentail, now Brokenstar, with ShadowClan's leadership. :As his reign goes on, many young cats die and some question his authority, but Brokenstar bends the warrior code to his own needs, going so far to exile Yellowfang and pinning the deaths of her younger siblings on her. In an effort to train more young cats (as ShadowClan had far too few kits and apprentices), he orders Clawface to steal kits from ThunderClan. This results in ShadowClan cats outraged with their leader and a ThunderClan patrol going to ShadowClan and taking the kits back, forcing Brokenstar out with his most loyal followers. :Even when he was blinded and taken care of by ThunderClan, Brokentail plotted against them and tried to fight, but was poisoned by Yellowfang. Yellowfang :A warrior-turned-medicine cat, Yellowfang fell pregnant with Raggedstar's kits and gave birth to them in secret, two daughters and a son, but the daughters died and the son was born with a bend in his tail. Unable to raise him as his mother, Yellowfang gave him to Lizardstripe, and had to watch as her son was abused by many cats and rise up in power to the bloodthirsty murderer he grew up to be. Powerless to stop him, Yellowfang was accused of murdering her younger siblings, Marigoldkit and Mintkit, in cold blood. Only four cats stood up in defense of Yellowfang, and Brokenstar cast her out. :Yellowfang found solace in ThunderClan, and helped take back ThunderClan's kits when they were stolen. She blinded Brokenstar in hopes of stopping his reign, but that was not enough, as her son plotted with Tigerclaw and his followers. Seeing no other option, Yellowfang fed her son deathberries, and told him of his true heritage; she was his mother, and he killed his father in cold blood because he was too ambitious. Brokenstar refused to believe her, but died from poisoning. :When the War against the Dark Forest came, Yellowfang killed Brokenstar's spirit after he had killed Ferncloud, destroying his existence forever. Raggedstar :After fathering Brokenstar with Yellowfang, he affirms Brokenstar as his son and spoils him, giving him training that Brokenpaw preferred to his own mentor, Nightpelt. Raggedpelt's spoiling continued into his leadership, and went so far as to make Brokentail his deputy following the death of Cloudpelt. Soon afterwards, Raggedstar begins to see Brokentail's true colors, and reveals to Yellowfang that he knows he made a mistake in making his son his deputy. :Brokenstar's ambition outweighed any care and affection he had for his father, as he killed him to obtain the leadership, ripping all nine of his lives away, showing no remorse for his actions; only pretending under the pretense that ShadowClan would accept him as Raggedstar's successor. Nightpelt :Nightpelt was appointed as Brokenstar's mentor, and tried to teach him patience, virtue, and honor among other things, but Brokenpaw was uninterested and called Nightpelt "weak" due to Nightpelt's own health problems and moral code. He was forced out of ShadowClan with the elders, as he had retired early due to his health problems, and assisted ThunderClan with forcing out Brokenstar and getting their kits back. :Now leaderless, Nightpelt took up the leadership role, but was denied his nine lives as Brokenstar was still alive. However, when news reached him that Brokenstar was dead, his health had deteriorated due to the Carrionplace rats and died, leaving ShadowClan leaderless and ready for Tigerclaw to take control over. Badgerfang :Badgerfang, then Badgerpaw, is an apprentice during Brokenstar's rule but is under 6 moons. His mentor is Flintfang. During the battle where ShadowClan drives out WindClan, the kit is attacked by an enemy warrior and is fatally wounded. Badgerpaw's last words were to change his name to his warrior name, Badgerfang, in honor of his mentor. Flintfang vows to never take another apprentice that is not old enough to be trained yet, after Badgerfang's death. Quotes See also *''Yellowfang's Secret'' **Yellowfang's Secret/Cliffnotes *''Into the Wild'' **Into the Wild/Cliffnotes *''Fire and Ice'' **Fire and Ice/Cliffnotes *''Forest of Secrets'' **Forest of Secrets/Cliffnotes Notes and references Notes Category:Events